Thought I'd do a thread looking at some of the potential players we might see from Udinese next season that would qualify for a work permit (there's others like Cristo Gonzalez that I don't think would qualify that might be of some interest but probably still not good enough) Lazar Samardži* Age: 20 Position: CM/AM/Wing Summary: Would be one of my main picks from Udinese. He joined Udinese from RB Leipzig for £3m last summer and has found his chances limited this season playing just 211 minutes of football, but in those minutes he's contributed 2 goals and 3 assists (all from corners), also scoring for the Germany U20s against England U20s earlier on in the season - all 3 goals were pretty decent as you can see below. He's energetic, versatile, can take a good set-piece, is good on the ball and create something from nothing - what's not to like? Mamadou Coulibaly Age: 23 Position: CM Summary: Bit of a random one, has spent the season on loan at Salernitana who are rock bottom of Serie A, he's not a regular in their side which would suggest he's probably not the level we require. Watching his clips he's awful at tackling and knows it (he rarely tries it, and when he does he often clips the opponents heels instead of actually getting the ball), he tries to move the ball forward a lot rather than backwards and loves a backheel. Often runs himself into blind alleys when trying to dribble. Festy Ebosele Age: 19 Position: RB/RWB/RW Summary: One we know the most about, has had his breakthrough season at Derby this season - he's lively and energetic, super quick and versatile. I think he can be a bit wasteful at times in the final third, but he's young and still pretty raw. Not sure I'd have him starting for us on the wing next season, but I'd have him as a RB to really cause problems doubling up with whoever we have on the wing and using his pace to help get us out of trouble at the back. Sandi Lovric Age: 24 Position: CM Summary: Joining Udinese from Lugano on a free transfer in the summer so not sure what his future at Udinese looks like (whether he'll be straight in their first team or see what he can do at a higher level than the Swiss league first - although he is playing for one of the better sides in the league). Watching his clips he reminded me a lot of Hughes in the way he always looks for the ball and his range of passing once he's got it. His positioning and reading of the game seemed good. Doesn't try to tackle much in defensive duels but puts a lot of pressure on to try and force a mistake instead. Lots to like and think he could improve our midfield Felipe Benkovic Age: 24 Position: CB Summary: Joined from Leicester in the summer, but hasn't yet played a league game for Udinese. Might be unlikely as Udinese lose 2 out of their 3 preferred CBs (Mari + Perez) in the summer as they return back to Arsenal and Atletico Madrid from their loans to Udinese. Although I guess we might do a swap loan deal with Samir going back to Udinese in return for Benkovic. Was at loan to Cardiff in 20/21 but only played 1 game, was at Bristol City in 19/20 where he played more and did alright. Did have a great loan spell in 18/19 at Celtic though. At 24 I imagine he'll be wanting to play games regularly and wish some Championship experience wouldn't be worst option to come in. Brandon Soppy Age: 20 Position: RB/RWB Summary: Imagine this is a non-starter with the Udinese situation at right-back (their main RB Molina is earning rave reviews and will likely be sold in the summer and Stryger Larsen is out of contract) so I imagine Soppy will become their main RB (and they may even keep Ebosele as backup). Soppy is quick and very attack minded, doesn't look great defensively though, although looks a lot better when Udinese have played with 3 at the back. Can also be used on the wing at a push, so has a bit of versatility. But again, very unlikely.
Soppy is a great name. Thanks, Reids. I think Femenia and Samir may go to Udinese and they'll give us a couple in return. Nothing more than a hunch.
Kerrist, what was that Irvin Welsh quote about the archetypal Scottish footballer? Spoiler Short, stocky, ginger, aggressive leaning towards violent and not very good at football.
I was gonna include him but his loan to Hellas Verona includes an option to buy so imagine he'll be sold.
How are his underlying numbers? Not many goals but a decent all round player. I believe it was a loan with a performance based obligation this summer but don’t know if that will be met. Still, even if not to Verona you’d imagine some Serie A clubs would be willing to pay for him anyway.
Can I possibly be really dim @reids and ask what these graphics symbolise? Is it actions per game or season? Apologies if you've explained this elsewhere before.
They're per 90 mins, so looking at the Kevin Lasagna radar above your post we can see he takes roughly 3 shots per 90. The bigger the coloured area for that metric, the better for that position. So around 3 shots per game is slightly above average for other strikers.
There's more detail here which may explain it better (and gives a definition of each metric) - https://statsbomb.com/articles/soccer/understanding-statsbomb-radars/
Benkovic seems like the most obvious one out of those. Signed on a free, clearly not good enough to play for Udinese so ship him off to Watford on a 5 year deal.
Was gonna include him but as Lowerrous said, Juve have the option to buy and he's been a regular for their U23s so would surprise me if they don't take it up.
Samardzic, Ebosele and Lovric would be great. Benkovic I’m not convinced by, but can he really be worse than what we have?
Yeah, we thought that when the likes of WTE, Kalu, and Kayembe showed up, but somehow they keep finding players that actually are worse than what we have.
Benkovic is a weird one because pre injury he was really really good. Just lost his way a little bit. Wouldn’t be mad at all if we signed him providing he’s not the main centre back. Because if it is Martinez we want and joins, he fits the profile of centre back he’d like to play a high line
Stylistically Samardzic seems like the kind of player we could do with in the advanced midfield role to hopefully grab some more goals. Not seen enough to say if he's def good enough but seems promising and worth at least giving a chance before deciding whether to send back or not. From what I've seen I'd rather have Ebosele as backup than Ngakia, especially as generally we'll be playing on the front foot next season.
Serie A is clearly 5hite - even Pussetto scored for them last week. Plus Samir was supposedly their best CB. All that and they're comfortably 12th in the table.
Quality goal and a very clever assist too. Having said that, think it's about on a par with the Scottish league these days...
Here are the players I expect to join from Udinese. Part of Duxbury's drive to create a younger squad.
